You can reach us through our adoption practitioner, Shelley Brownell, Family Services of Greater Vancouver, sbrownell@fsgv.ca; 604-736-7613; 1-866-582-3678 (toll free).

We have now been married for eight years and are blessed with a deeply harmonious relationship. We take the responsibilities of life seriously yet take time to enjoy special moments together and to use laughter as medicine whenever possible, in times of stress or challenge.

Hello!

Warm greetings to you and hope you are feeling well and enjoying your pregnancy.

Thanks for taking the time to look at our profile and for considering us for your son or daughter. We realize this must be an enormous decision for you, and wish to assure you that if you place your child with us, they will be coming into a home where love, optimism, and respect for each other are strong family values.

Richard and Donna Jean met 13 years ago at a drumming class. Our friendship gradually grew as we spent more time together exploring our curiosity and passion for music, singing, and dancing. Side-by-side with our love of music, our love for each other also grew. It seemed inevitable that we would marry and have a family, which, for both of us, was important to enrich our individual and our married lives.

We have now been married for eight years and are blessed with a deeply harmonious relationship. We take the responsibilities of life seriously yet take time to enjoy special moments together and to use laughter as medicine whenever possible, in times of stress or challenge. These stresses have included deaths in the family, moves, periods of living in different cities, and periods when each of us returned to school.

Richard is a warm and compassionate man who is devoted to the care of his family and extended family. He is wise beyond his years, shows grace and intelligence in the face of adversity, and is generous in considering the feelings and position of others in all he does. At the same time, he is fun loving and creative.

Donna Jean comes from a large playful extended family. She has always been surrounded by many family members who care about and look after each other. Even now, her mother and one of her sisters lives within a 10-minute walk of their home, making for frequent visits to grandma and auntie’s to help each other or just to hang out together. 

Having met later in life we had decided to adopt but then were blessed with the miracle of our own biological child. Calum was born August 31, 2004 and has brought out many wonderful aspects to our lives and our relationship that we had not expected. People always tell us we have a happy little boy who is playful but gentle, generous, funny, and fun to be with. He has been talking about having a little sister or brother for several months now and is practicing feeding ‘his’ baby. He is a very nurturing little fellow and at the playground, stands at the bottom of the slide when little ones are going down, encouraging them, putting out his hands, and telling them he’ll catch them.

After three years we are still thrilled about being parents and wish to give him and any other child we may be blessed with the experience of having a sibling to teach and learn from, to love and care for throughout their lives, and to help through whatever challenges the future holds for them. We also want to give them a life rich in experiences to give them confidence, strength of purpose, empathy for others, and a sense of responsibility to future generations.

As a family, we try to have a low impact on the environment by biking (with our son in a carrier), walking, or taking boats for our shopping and errands, as well as for fun and recreation. This is quite easy for us to do as we live right on a bike path and on a public waterfront close to downtown and a public market. It is also a short bike ride or boat ride to the beach, a little forest, and a waterfall.

We enjoy singing and playing music together. Each of us plays a couple of instruments tolerably well (practice makes better!), which makes for fun rainy days and winter nights. We hope our children will grow up to enjoy these activities or similar ones not only to build their creative and emotional strength but also to give them the sense that they can create their own entertainment.

We hope this gives you a sense of who we are and of course hope that you will honour us with your trust to care for your child. We are prepared to explore open adoption options with you and select the degree of connection, which feels right for all of us.

Thanks for taking the time to read our profile and for considering us.

Richard and Donna Jean